Thoughts on student accommodation

[Biscuitsneeded]

DS is doing his application for first year accommodation, going in September (fingers crossed). He has to put 'bands' of accommodation in order of preference. Basically there are shared rooms (which he doesn't want), then some single rooms in purpose-built student flats/houses with shared bathrooms, and then there's a price leap of about £50 a week to have an en-suite room. I am trying to tell him he doesn't need an en-suite room and he will be really glad to have an extra £200 a month for food and/or socialising, but he has older friends who are telling him to prioritise en-suite. I wonder if they have more money than we do, though? Just wondering what is most normal nowadays?

My eldest - who lived in halls throughout - preferred shared bathrooms because it gave her more floor space in her bedroom. Her sister wanted en suite in first year but I don't think it would really have made all that much difference to her if she'd had to share a bathroom. For her second & third year she was in house-shares, so she had to share a bathroom anyway.

...Also, the shared bathrooms in halls got cleaned by staff. Youngest's en suite was only cleaned once: by me when she moved out.

That's an interesting point, thank you. If I point out it may mean doing the cleaning himself, I suspect DS may decide he can bear to share after all!

Fortunately DD is amenable to a shared bathroom. I'm paying so it's non negotiable anyway!

As above, my DD didn't want a shared bathroom and was initially a bit pissed off that that was what she'd been allocated, but then it was absolutely fine. She said friends with en-suites had damp issues, the rooms were very small and also obvs the fact they had to clean them themselves.

Eldest had shared bathroom in halls.

Youngest had a swanky accommodation with en-suite !

Agree re the cleaning aspect !

DC were not bothered either way, more interested in location. And how much rent was.
All DC were swimmers so used to communal showers

DS wanted an ensuite but it was going to be an extra £500. DH explained did he want to pay £500 for this or have £500 extra in his pocket. He opted for the shared bathroom in a large townhouse with 11 others and got a decent sized bedroom and had a large kitchen, diner/social space. Whereas, his friends with en-suites have smaller bedrooms, are in a smaller flat (with less people) and have much less social space for hanging out in and pre drinks etc. Next year 4 of them will be sharing a bathroom and a downstairs loo (so its as well he got used to sharing this year).

Yy all the accommodation we saw that was ensuite had a much smaller room as the shower room took a bite out of it.

Dd had a washbasin in her first year room which was nice.

Ds2's room cost £4k compared with £7k for ensuite so it was a no brajner really. He didn't mind sharing.

There are a surprising number of parents on here and on WIWIKAU who say their student "must" have an en-suite.
Not sure how they then manage the following year in most shared student houses.
However, as has already been said it means you usually end up with a much smaller room - as the ensuite has to go somewhere, so space is taken from the bedrooms. It also means you clean it yourself, whereas shared ones are usually cleaned for you.

The main point is though, they will be £50 per week - that's every week worse off. Remind them how many take aways or nights out that will get them, or whatever their preferred treat is. It isn't just once, it is every week.

I think some students don't start from the point where the money they get (combined from loan, parents contribution and any other source) is a finite amount, and haven't grasped that having such a luxury as an en-suite means cutting back elsewhere. They seem to expect parents just to pay out more.

Not all shared bathrooms are cleaned by staff! We were all for DS sharing a bathroom (after all, we did at uni). Then we found out that the students have to do all the cleaning- starting from the front door of their house/ flat.

We then agreed to subsidise the cost of an en-suite. The idea of cleaning up someone else’s drunken vomit/ piss/ worse was a hard no from us. DS is working as a cleaner now, he wants to leave all that behind in September.

The room is tiny, but he’s happy with that.

Just like @QueenofLouisiana, our DD was in a uni-owned house with four others and they had to clean everything including the shared bathroom. Only two of the housemates actually did their share of cleaning. For second year she has a room in an HMO and decided to pay for en-suite as she is happy to clean up after herself but not for others. (Plans for a shared house fell through; which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, after a big row amongst the group!) She has a job this summer to top-up her bank account to help cover the increase in rent.

My first year of uni I shared a room but we had an ensuite. Personally, I loved sharing a room, i never had as a child and loved that I had an inbuilt 'friend'. Plus the location was insane! I still can't quite believe where we got to live! Nearly everybody in our halls shared a room and it wasn't weird. We all had great social lives. Tbf 3/4 of the way through the year my roomate and I both got bfs that had their own rooms elsewhere so for part of the year we barely saw each other!

DS 1, shared bath…filthy, he was the only one who cleaned it and stopped after a while as the other 3 were clearly taking advantage of him. Subsequent years with friends in private rentals.
DS 3, year 1 shared only one who bought TP and kept it locked away in his room, and they also ate his food shared kitchen. Year 2 shared with buddies in a totally unsafe private rental, year 3 requested a private suite.

I'm confident DD can cope with a shared bathroom. It's not like I'm asking her to dig a hole in the ground.

My DD has lived in uni hall accommodation for 3 years and has had a good experience with shared bathrooms for 2 years and a bad experience for 1 year (6 months with students used to servants and 6 months with a student with severe mental health issues). Luckily at her uni, shared bathrooms are cleaned once a week by staff.

She's willing to take her chances with shared bathrooms to have more spending money and be in a better location. When she ends up with minging flatmates she mitigates by showering at gym etc. Its a standing joke that my DD always goes to the loo before leaving friends flats.

There is an element of luck. Plus some unis are better at policing cleanliness than others and are more amenable to allowing switching of flats.

I'll face this next year but my daughter already has an en suite at home and is responsible for cleaning it. I think she'll opt for it if possible. I remember my accommodation had large bathrooms shared by 20 or more kids like you get in gyms and hated it. I also had to share my bedroom - I don't see much of that now.

I had a shared bathroom in first year - we had to clean it ourselves, so if that aspect is important to you you need to double check!

But he's unlikely to have an en suite once he's out of halls in second and third year. Of course by that point he'll be sharing with friends so not quite the same.

I think it was a uni owned house but in the city then fair enough the students should clean it, but I'm talking about halls on a campus with maybe 10 to 12 bedrooms per ' house' and maybe 4 toilets and showers between 12. I imagine those will have cleaners as the students have been allocated rather than making the choice of sharing with friends. I also think it should be absolutely fine as people will be on different t timetables and showering etc at different times. I just need to persuade DS not to waste his money. He's very sociable so I think he will want it for other things and won't be hanging around in his bedroom too much anyway!

I'm talking about halls on a campus with maybe 10 to 12 bedrooms per ' house' and maybe 4 toilets and showers between 12. I imagine those will have cleaners as the students have been allocated rather than making the choice of sharing with friends.

If it's that many people, I imagine it will have cleaners. But I'd still double check. Is that how all the accommodation is set up?

My first year accommodation was flats of 5, with two toilets and a shower (and a kitchen). We were allocated it, rather than choosing who to share with, and it didn't have a cleaner.

My daughter (Bath) had 13 bedrooms per house (on campus) with 3 shared bathrooms, one per floor. These were cleaned by the campus cleaners, as was the kitchen.

Dd opted for a shared bathroom and more money to spend. And then most of first year was in lockdowns unable to go out partying, saved loads. The bathroom would have been handy when she got covid and spent a week vomiting constantly, her 5 flatmates opted to all use one bathroom so she had exclusive use of the other, bless them.

Ds1 prefers an ensuite. He's sensible with his money and not one for partying so that's fine if that's where he wants to spend his budget. I think sharing a bathroom in 2nd year, when you've chosen who you'll share with, is a bit different.

The shared bathroom rooms seem to be a bit bigger? The en-suite takes up room footprint I think. My DS1 for September also rapidly dropped to the slightly better shared batroom one once I pointed out the cleaning thing :)

No idea how it will work out but for us the midprice of premium SC shared bathroom (as opposed to either class of ensuite, which were both more), seemed like a good compromise.

@Biscuitsneeded The norm is all types of room. That is why it is available. However it is sensible to have a conversation over cost. Saving by sharing a bathroom is very sensible in my view. The en suites are a lot more quite often. Some can be £thousands more!

Yes, obviously it's horses for courses, but I don't want to influence my son one way only to find all his new friends are doing something else! Was just trying to gauge what is typical. Ultimately, it's his choice.